Sunday, October 12, 2014

Film Review: The Ward (2010)

"...Carpenter is still more than capable of
conjuring effective suspense and horror..."

After burning down a farmhouse, Kristen (Amber Heard) is institutionalized and finds herself haunted by a sinister force...

The
Ward follows Kristen in 1966 as she settles in at this psychiatric
hospital. Kristen insists she's not crazy, but she has no recollection
of the events prior to the fire. Anyway, Kristen, as well as the other
patients, find themselves being haunted by a zombie-like ghost. The
deeper she investigates, the more death surrounds her and the more
grizzly secrets she discovers. It's a straight-forward horror film. The
ending is predictable, but I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the horror in
The Ward. The film has a great focus on atmosphere and suspense.
Fortunately, the film often builds up great suspense and tension. The
payoff is usually a jump-scare, but don't fret, these are actually
impressive. Most of the time, jump-scares just don't do it for me, but
these actually gave me a jolt at least a handful of times. There are
also some subtle visuals that I really enjoyed, as well, like a shadowy or ghost
figure in the background – I like those little details.

I think
the biggest downfall for The Ward is the acting. It's passable,
especially by horror standards, but it just doesn't really bring you
into this world – it doesn't help bring you to the 60s. Also, none of
the cast play a believable psychiatric patient. Amber Heard is
occasionally good, but whenever the role becomes demanding, she just
sounds off and overacted. Otherwise, I enjoyed the cinematography and I
especially enjoyed the camerawork. The music is good, too, I just wish
John Carpenter got his hands dirty. On that note, John Carpenter's
direction is great. Aside from the acting, Carpenter is still more than capable of
conjuring effective suspense and horror, and the film is also well paced and
balanced.

Overall, The Ward is a very good horror film. It's not a
groundbreaking or even original film, but it's hard to find a film
that's truly original nowadays, anyway. The horror, which is what I
expect most will be watching for, is very good, though. I enjoyed the
atmosphere, the suspense, the subtle imagery, and even the jump-scares –
it's very well rounded. The acting... that's another story.